Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Title:  Unholy Ghosts

Author:  Stacia Kane
Genre:  Fantasy/Urban Fantasy
Publisher:  HarperVoyager

Publication Date:  May 2010

Book Length:  339
Series: Series (Unholy Magic will be out beginning of July 2010)
First Lines:  Had the man in front of her not already been dead, Chess probably would have tried to kill him.

Synopsis

THE AFTERLIFE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling Debunker and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing the human liars or banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.

Chess owes a murderous drug lord named Bump a lot of money. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust with a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

My Thoughts 

I'm a massive fan of Stacia Kane's Megan Chase series, so I was excited to find that she also had another series coming out.  I'd read the synopsis and the exerpt she had on her website so I got a little taste of what to expect from Chess Putnam.

Chess is unlike any character I've read so far.  She's a witch and an addict.  Which is where part of her problem lies.  She owes her drug dealer Bump alot of money.  Bump wants his money fast, so they come to an agreement.  She will help him out with what she does best and he will wipe her debt.  Simple as that.  Well apparently not.

Stacia has created a great cast of characters and I loved that they don't have the usual.. uh normal names.  Add to that, the fact that the main character is a user which is also quite unheard of for me.  She's done her research too with the conflicts Chess faces when she can't always get her fix, it's definitely realistic.  I'm also glad that, even halfway through, I still was unable to pick up which the bad guy/s were.

Compared with Stacia Kane's Megan Chase series, Unholy Ghosts is alot darker.  I also like that it doesn't glorify the use of drugs.  Great Read!